“There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.” Teaching children values and giving them the opportunity to excel is essential to good parenting. However, I feel I must also provide my children (and myself) insight into the ones who came before us: our ancestors whose lives and stories have shaped us into who we are. This is my journey; these are their stories…

Yaroslav I of Kiev

On this day, 20 February, 1054, Yaroslav I “The Wise” of Kiev died. He was my two-times 30th great-grandfather through his grandson Philippe I and through his grandson Hugh.

Yaroslav was the son of Vladimir “The Great” and his third wife, Rogneda of Polotsk. As a youth, Yaroslav was sent by his father to rule the northern lands near Rostov. In 1010, Yaroslav served Novgorod as vice-regent.

However, relations with his father degraded over time, especially after Vladimir bequeathed the throne to his younger son Boris. In 1014, Yaroslav refused to pay tribute to his father. Only Vladimir’s death in 1015 prevented a war from being waged between father and son.

After Vladimir’s death, Yaroslav’s older brother Svyatopolk killed three of their younger brothers (including Boris) and seized power of Kievan Rus’. In 1016, with the help of Novgorod, Yaroslav defeated Svyatopolk’s troops near the town of Lyubech. Svyatopolk fled to Poland to the sanctuary of his father-in-law, Duke Bolaslaus I.

This victory, however, did not ensure a smooth reign for Yaroslav. In 1018, Svyatopolk returned with troops from Poland and seized Kiev. Again, Novgorod came to the rescue, and in 1019, Yaroslav wrested the throne back from Svyatopolk.

In 1019, Yaroslav married Ingegerd “Irene”, daughter of Olof Skötkonung of Sweden and Estrid of the Obotrites. Together, Yaroslav and Irene had five sons and five daughters, several of whom played an integral role in Yaroslav’s foreign policy, as he regarded dynastic marriages an excellent way to solidify connections with other countries. Yaroslav’s son Vsevolod wed a daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Konstantin Monomakh; his son Izyazlav married the sister of Kazamir of Poland Gertrude; daughter Anne of Kiev wed Henry I de France (my two-times 29th great-grandparents); daughter Elizabeth of Kiev married Harald III of Norway; and daughter Anastasia of Kiev wed the future Andrew I of Hungary.

In 1023, Yaroslav’s younger brother Mstislav rebelled, and Yaroslav fled to Novgorod. However, the Kievans were hostile to Mstislav, and he soon offered to Yaroslav joint rule of Kievan Rus’. Mstislav and Yaroslav divided the lands: Yaroslav received everything west of the Dnepr River, while Mstislav was granted all lands to the east. Yaroslav preferred to stay in Novgorod, moving back to Kiev in 1035, after Mstislav died without heirs. Again, Yaroslav controlled all of Kievan Rus’.

In 1037, Yaroslav defeated the Pincenates tribes, whose raids had been a long-lasting problem in the southern territories. To mark the victory, Yaroslav ordered that the Saint Sofia Cathedral be built.

Yaroslav advocated the spread of Christianity. He encouraged the translation of religious books from the Byzantine Empire and other countries into Old Russian. In 1028, he established the first school in Novgorod for 300 children. He issued statutes regulating the legal position of the Christian Church and the rights of the clergy. In addition to the Saint Sofia Cathedral, he built the Golden Gate of the Kievan fortress. In 1030, he founded the first monasteries in Russia—the Yuriev monastery in Novgorod and the Kiev Pechersk Monastery in Kiev. He also introduced a religious holiday on November 26, known as the Yuriev Den, to honor Saint George.

The codification of legal customs and enactments also began. This work served as the basis for a law code called the Russkaya Pravda.

Yaroslav pursued an active foreign policy, and his forces won several notable military victories. He regained Galicia from the Poles, decisively defeated the nomadic Pechenegs on the Kievan state’s southern frontier, and expanded Kievan possessions in the Baltic region, suppressing the Lithuanians, Estonians, and Finnish tribes. However, his military campaign of 1043 against Constantinople failed.

In 1051, Yaroslav appointed the first Russian Metropolitan Illarion whose candidacy was approved without the sanction of the Constantinople Patriarch.

At the end of his life, Yaroslav sought to prevent a power struggle between his five sons by dividing his empire among them and entreating the younger sons to obey the eldest, Izyaslav, who would succeed his father as Grand Prince of Kiev. On 20 February, 1054, Yaroslav died in Vyshgorod and was buried in the Saint Sofia Cathedral in Kiev. Yaroslav’s admonitions to his sons were not heeded, however, and civil war ensued after his death.